1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a appliance having a grate which includes a removable central ring that allows use of a wok or curved bottom pan.
2. Description of Related Art
There are many cooking appliances known in the art which have top surfaces for cooking food items. These cooking appliances—commonly referred to as cooking ranges, cooking hobs, or merely cook-tops—are typically either electric or gas fired. Gas type cook-tops often include a top surface including a plurality of gas burners wherein a support structure or grate is provided for supporting cooking utensils above the burners. The grate disposed above a burner is conventionally designed to provide a flat support surface above the burner so that cooking vessels such as frying pans or sauce pans may be supported a preferred distance above the burner. Grate systems which provide a flat surface are ideal for flat bottom cooking vessels and allow pots and pans to slide freely across the grate.
The use of Asian woks for cooking food presents a problem for the conventional cooking appliances. A wok is a generally hemispheric or rounded bottom cooking vessel. The spherical bottom surface of a wok does not adapt well to the flat support surface of conventional cooking appliances.
To accommodate the use of a wok on a flat surface cooking appliances, an independent stand is often provided for holding the wok upright. These wok stands may consist of a cylinder or conical structure which rests on the cooking surface or grate system and supports the wok. U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,062 discloses various support stands for supporting an Asian wok on a flat surface Western kitchen range or cooking hob.
Another approach to allow use of a wok on a stove is to provide a burner well on the stove top. The burner well has an annular rim which can support a wok or other rounded bottom cooking vessels. U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,352 discloses such a large burner stove with recessed burner well.
While solutions have been proposed to allow the use of a wok with a conventional cooking appliance, none of these systems allow for quick and convenient conversion or adapting of the cooking appliance for use with flat bottom cooking utensil and, alternatively, for use with rounded bottom cooking utensils or woks.